NWSA Member of the Month
Anne Bryant in the NWSA Member of the Month for March, as well as the She Sailor Sea Story host.
Anne sails out of Benjamin River, Eggemoggin Reach, Penobscot Bay. Thinking about the magic of sailing, Anne wrote, “Sailing is using a boat as an augmentation to the human body—we are land creatures, and this glorious prosthetic helps us move gracefully in an otherwise unforgiving medium.”
Anne’s sailing journey began 13 years ago when she went on her first sailing trip on a Mariner 36. She recalls, “My then host and eventual mentor, John Pearson, was welcoming and empowering when it came to not just enjoying my time on board, but in his willingness to satisfy my curiosities about how the boat worked as we sailed around the USVI and BVI. From then on, that was it. I came home and changed my online dating profile to say that I intended to live on a boat someday… that’s how completely smitten I was of the possibility of living a self-sufficient life mostly outdoors, traveling, with my house. I didn’t know it could be possible for a working class person to afford a boat, but I saw the possibility of a path to the water on that trip thanks to my dear friend.
Since then I’ve sailed the ICW from Maine to Georgia, have sailed through a good portion of the Caribbean, helped a friend deliver a boat from Florida to the Bahamas, and I’ve cruised a lot of Maine. I was an editor at WoodenBoat Magazine for four years and have been mostly working with YouTube channels for the last three years. I produce Acorn to Arabella, which is 180,000 subscribers-strong and I make videos for a restoration project in Mystic, Connecticut called Restoring Rosalind. I’m the content creator for Lowell’s Boat Shop, a working museum that is the oldest boat shop in the United States and a National Historic Landmark. I keep waiting for an adult somewhere to tell me I can’t do that next nutty thing I want to do.
It was near-coastal cruising that I was most interested in pursuing, and I wouldn’t make a very good racer. Not only am I too distracted by the lure of new places to see with all their museums, libraries, cemeteries, and pubs, but I also tend to love heavy and beamy wooden working boats. They take good care of me, and I of them.”
Anne seems to collect boats. She has a 27′ wooden sloop named New Moon. It was designer Thomas Gillmer’s last boat, meaning that it was the last of his designs. He had it built for himself when he was in his 80s. For small boats, she has a 10′ Norwegian pram, a 10′ nutshell dinghy, and a 1957 Lyman runabout that “needs work.”
Anne Bryant, March 2024 NWSA Member of the Month
When asked, “If money wasn’t a problem, what would be your dream sailing adventure or purchase?” Anne answered, “I’d most like to sail the Baltic on an extremely extended cruise so I can really get a feel for the place. If I were to make a dream purchase, it’d be a pilot cutter custom built by Luke Powell. My goodness, any of his boats would make beautiful homes. For a shorter trip, I hope to someday sail into Douarnenez for the traditional boat festival there.”
If Anne could only take five things on a month-long cruise she would take a comfortable dress with pockets, a wool sweater, her phone and gimbal to film … and a good knife.
When Anne’s not traveling with mad abandon, she lives in a Shasta trailer year-round in Maine where she is part owner of a foraged-fruit cider company called Bon Vent Cider.
A few years back Anne moderated the chat and hosted a couple of the Maiden panel discussions which we called “Maiden Mondays”. “Working with Tracey Edwards as well as former and present crew during this Women Who Sail and NWSA collaboration was a true honor. “I’ve also hosted and told stories for She Sailor Sea Stories, which is great fun and I hope I get to do it again sometime,” said Anne. (She is hosting again on Friday night March 15!)
Anne invites you to check out her personal project. She says, “After working on other people’s projects for a good long time, I have started my own YouTube channel called From Pine to Palm, and would be honored by your click of the subscribe button. Also, keep an eye out for Stories from the Stage on the WORLD channel—I told the story of my first cruise with Doc Pearson on the stage at WGBH in Boston which will air sometime this year.
If anyone wants to reach Anne, say hello on the SSSS chat or at www.righthandanne.com .